Shelving



S. SHAIN Fell- 24, 1970- SHELVING 2 Sheets-Sheetl l Filed Oct. 3l, 1967 VJMJZETOR.

S. SHAIN Feb. 24, 1979 SHELVING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 31. 1967 United States Patent O 3,497,080 SHELVING Samuel Shain, 117 Trowbridge St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138 Filed Oct. 31, 1967, Ser. No. 679,342 Int. Cl. A47f 5/10 U.S. Cl. 211-148 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A plurality of horizontally parallel shelves or7 alternately, partitions are supported by a series of supports with each support consisting of a pair of vertically extending, spaced, elongated standards having vertically extending, parallel, opposed grooves formed in their inner surface. The shelves extend between the standards and are supported by spacers which extend between the grooves.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a support construction adapted for shelving, partitions and the like, used in industrial, commercial and residential installations.

There are a wide variety of supports for shelves and partitions which have been developed over the years. Many such constructions which have been developed are intended to fulfill or satisfy particular requirements. But despite theplethora of constructions available, there is still a constant demand for additional styles or designs which are relatively inexpensive to manufacture, easy to assemble and disassemble, structurally sound and adaptable for a variety of applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is designed to attain these objectives and provides a support construction designed for use as in knock-down units `which may be assembled or disassembled 'with ease and without the requirement of elaborate tools. The present invention also provides a support for a shelving construction which is versatile in that it may be easily installed in a wide variety of forms and shapes in differently sized and shaped areas. Further, the shelving made in accordance with the present invention is adapted for use as a modular device capable of being arranged ina plurality of modules that may be easily increased or decreased in number and arrangement.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a shelving construction of inexpensive design but of suflicient structural soundness as to permit loading \with substantial weights.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a shelving construction that is adapted to be made in a wide variety of materials including wood, metal and plastic and which may be used to support a wide variety of articles including industrial, commercial and residential articles, such for example as merchandise, displays, soft goods, hardware, books and the like.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a partition or shelving construction which is attractive in appearance and which may be readily assembled by an unskilled operator with minimum training.

In the present invention, there is provided a support which may be embodied in a shelving construction comprising a plurality of pairs of opposed, vertically extending, spaced, elongated standards having a plurality of vertically extending, parallel, opposed grooves formed therein. One and preferably several horizontally extending shelves extend from one to another of the pairs of standards with the shelves extending between the standards of each pair. At least one and preferably several 3,497,080 Patented Feb. 24, 1970 ICC spacers having opposed sides are positioned in and are engaged by the opposed grooves of the standards 'with the upper and lower edges of the spacers extending across the spacer between the standards with the spacers supporting the shelves. In a preferred embodiment, additional grooves are provided for receiving decorative panels that cover the spacers. In a further embodiment, the support is used in connection with partitions that extend in a vertical series.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood when considered with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. l is a fragmentary, perspective view of a shelving construction illustrating a support and a plurality of shelves embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan elevation looking from the left of FIG. l in a direction normal to the supports;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 5A are schematic, plan views of shelving constructions made in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 6 6 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary, perspective view of a partition construction illustrating an alternate form of the present invention; and

FIG. S is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines 2 2 of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The shelving construction illustrated in FIGS. l to 3 is formed with a plurality of shelves 1, 2, and 3 extending preferably parallel to one another in vertical, horizontal spaced relation. These shelves are preferably formed of elongated members. The shelves may be rectangular in shape or, alternately, may be formed of some irregular shape such, for example, as is illustrated at 5 and 6 in FIGS. 4 and 5 respectively. The shelves, thus, may be arcuate or curved, as illustrated in FIG. 4, or angular, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

These shelves 1, 2 and 3 are supported by a plurality of spaced individual supports 7. These supports are positioned at spaced intervals along the length of the shelving a sufficient distance to support the shelving and the load intended to be placed upon it. The supports 7 extend upwardly and are designed to be placed on a floor, or if desired to be locked to like supports in a vertically stacked arrangement. These supports may also be used in conjunction with legs for supports at spaced distances above the floor in a manner hereafter described.

The supports 7 are each similar in shape and design and each may be modified in a similar fashion. Consequently a description of a single support will suffice to exemplify each of the supports used in the present construction.

In this arrangement the support 7 is provided with a pair of opposed vertically extending spaced elongated standards 8 and 9. Each of these standards may be milled from wood or formed of metal or plastic. These standards 8 and 9 are each provided with four vertically exltending parallel grooves 10, 11, 12 and 13 on their inner surface, with the grooves of one standard parallelly aligned with the grooves of the other standard. Preferably these grooves extend the entire length of the standards 8 and 9. Preferably the outer grooves 10 and 13 are of narrower width than the inner grooves 11 and 12. The standards 8 and 9 may if desired be finished on their outer surfaces or if desired may be covered on sides 14, 14A, 15, 16 and 16A With a thin decorative laminate formed of the same or other contrasting material. Thus, for example the standards 8 and 9 may be made of an inexpensive wood and covered With a decorative vinyl or other plastic shell. This shell having a general C shaped configuration may be slid longitudinally on to the standards during assembly. The standards may therefore be made with a variety of colorings designed to adapt the unit for esthetic conformity to a wide variety of applications.

The standards 8 and 9 are secured in spaced relation at their upper and lower ends by spacers 16, 17, 18 and 19. The spacers 16 and 17 are secured at the upper end of the standards 8 and 9. These spacers are each rectangular in shape with vertically extending tongues 20 formed at their side edges. Tongues 20 at the sides of spacer 16 are positioned in grooves 11, while the tongues 20 at sides of spacer 17 are positioned in grooves 12. The tongues 20 are suitably secured within the grooves 11 and 12 by cement or other means so as to rigidly secure these spacers and standards to each other. The lower spacers 18 and 19 may be identical in shape respectively to spacers 16 and 17 and are formed with tongues secured in a manner similar to the tongues of the spacers 16 and 17 at the lower end of the grooves 11 and 12 of the standards 8 and 9. Thus the standards 8 and 9 and the spacers 16, 17, 18 and 19 form a rigid rectangular support. The shelves 1, 2 and 3, extend between the standards as previously described. The lower shelf 1 may be supported on and secured to the upper edges of the spacers 18 and 19. The shelf 1 which extends perpendicularly to the spacers 18 and 19 has a lower surface which rests directly on the upper surfaces of the spacers 18 and 19 and is secured to it preferably by a series of bolts 30 which extend vertically through the shelf 1, between the spacers 18 and 19 and into a base 31. The base 31 comprises a rectangular member having width dimensions preferably equal to the width of the spacers 8 and 9 and length dimensions equal to the distance between the outer edges of the spacers 8 and 9. The base may have a height approximately equal to the height of the shelf 1. The bolts 30 are secured by nuts 32 or the like positioned above the shelf 1, while the head of the bolts may be countersunk within the base 31.

The shelf 3 is secured to the cap 34. This cap 34 is shaped and dimensioned similarly to the shape and di menson of base 31 and fits over the upper ends of the standards 8 and 9. A pair of bolts 35 having heads countersunk in the cap 34 extends downwardly between the spacers 16 and 17 through holes in the shelf 3 with nuts 36 securing the upper edge of the shelf 3 to the lower edges of the spacers 16 and 17.

Preferably and if desired, a third set of spacers 40 and 41 are positioned intermediate the upper and lower ends of the standards 8 and 9. These spacers 40 and 41 which may have a rectangular shape and thickness equal to the width of the grooves 11 and 12 are secured with their side edges respectively in the grooves 11 and 12, approximately half way between the top and bottom of the standards 8 and 9 thus forming an intermediate support. The spacers 40 and 41 may be suitably secured in the groove by cement or other means as previously described in connection with spacers 16 and 17. The shelf 2 may be directly supported upon the spacers 40 and 41 as illustrated in dotted outline in FIG. 2. However adjustable spacers 44 may ybe utilized to provide means by which the height of the shelf 2 may be varied. One or more spacers of varying heights may be used as illustrated. These spacers may comprise thin rectangular members having a thickness no wider than the thickness of the grooves 11 and 12 with the height of the spacers 44 short enough to permit insertion and removal by twisting action of the spacers for supporting the shelf 2 at different heights. If desired spacers 44 also may be used for insertion of additional shelves. Thus for example, a shelf may be supported directly upon the spacers 40 and 41 as illustrated in dotted outline at 2 in FIG. 2, and in addition several spacers 44 may be utilized to position a second shelf in the position of the shelf 2 illustrated in solid outline in FIG. 2. A similar arrangement may be utilized for supporting a shelf below the fixed spaces 40 and 41. In such an arrangement additional removable spacers similar to those illustrated at 44 may be positioned in the grooves 11 and 12 spanning the standards 8 and 9 above the shelf 1 but below the lixed spacers 40, 41, thus providing means for supporting another shelf intermediate shelves 1 and 2.

These spacers 44 may if desired be formed with edges spanning the standards 8 and 9 that are non perpendicular to these standards. Thus, for example, removable spacers 48 and 49 illustrated in FIG. 2 are provided with angularly extending edges 50 and 51 respectively. Upper edge 50 of the removable spacer 48 extends at approximately a 30 angle to the horizontal and provides an inclined surface on which a shelf such as shelf 1A may be supported. If desired additional shelves may be positioned above the shelf 1A intermediate the shelf 1A and the shelf 2 by using a spacer 49 having a lower edge 51 conforming to the upper surface of the shelf 1A. If desired the upper surfaces 52 of the spacer 49 may be perpendicular to the standards 8 and 9 or alternately may be parallel to the lower edge 51 thus providing means for supporting a series of shelves parallel to the angular shelves 1A.

The opposite faces of the supports between the standards 8 and 9 may be decoratively covered with a wide variety of decorative covers formed of plastic, metal, screening or any other relatively rigid decorative material. This material which for example may comprise a masonite screening 60 is formed with narrow side edges sized and shaped to set into opposed grooves 10 and 13 in the standards 8 and 9. The upper and lower edges 0f this material or covering 60 is cut to conform with the surface of the shelving that extends between the standards 8 and 9. Thus for example the material 60, as illustrated in FIG. l has a lower edge 62 extending perpendicular to the standards 8 and 9 and in facing contact with the shelving 1, 2 and 3. Both sides of the supports are covered by this decorative material 60 to conceal the supports for the shelving between the opposed segments of material 60.

The cap 34 of the support may be provided with a decorative cover y65 which extends over and conceals the heads of the bolts 35 which are countersunk in the cover 34.

The supports generally illustrated at 7 may be supported one on top of the other to provide a shelving construction of greater height than possible with the single support 7. In this arrangement two supports as illustrated at 7 are positioned one above the other with the cap 34 and cover 65 of the lower support and with the bolts 35 of the lower support and 30 of the upper support removed and replaced by longer bolts which effectively extend from the upper surface of the shelf 1 of the upper support to the lower surface of the upper shelf 3 of the lower support.

The invention also contemplates utilizing legs for the supports 7 so that the supports may be raised. In this arrangement, standard legs of the type having threaded shanks or studs at their top end are positioned with the threaded shanks or studs extending into the base 31. Alternately, elongated legs of the same type extend through appropriately formed holes in the base 31 and each of the crossing shelves with the upper ends of the legs supporting and bearing against the cap 34. The threaded shanks of these elongated legs may be threaded into appropriately threaded holes in the cap 34.

In another form of the invention, short legs 30A may be secured to the bottom of supports 7 with bolts 30 extending upwardly through a countersunk hole 30B, terminating above shelf 1, so that these bolts will hold the legs 30A in place in locked relation to shelf 1.

In the arrangement described, the shelving need not extend all the way through the standards 8 and 9, but may if desired be terminated between the grooves 11 and 12. Thus, in the arrangement described, the shelving on one side of the support 7 need not be of the same height as the shelving on the other side. This versatility in construction is attained by virtue of the fact that dual spacers such, for example as illustrated at 16 and 17, are used. Thus, spacer 16 may be used to support the shelf extending on one side While spacer 17 may be used to support the shelf extending on the other side of a given support 7.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8, there is illustrated a modification of the invention as used for partitioning. In this arrangement, standards 108 and 109 are spaced by spacers 116 and 117. The standards 108 and 109 are similar to standards 8 and 9. The spacers 116 and 117 are, however, much shorter in relation to the size of the standards 108 and 109 than corresponding components in FIG. l. These standards are arranged in a plurality of pairs of standards 108 and 109 in verticalparallel spaced relationship and are designed to secure and support ends of partitions. These partitions 120 may be composed of any decorative, rigid material and may be solid bars formed of screening, opaque, transparent or translucent, and are intended for use in any conventional partitioning arrangement. The partitions are preferably rectangular or square in shape with side edges 121 and horizontal edges 122. The partitions are supported and secured individually in frames 123. These frames are formed of a rectangular framed member of four beams with the four beams each secured to adjacent means at its ends in butting relation. These beams 124 are preferably of uniform width, thickness and height, and are provided with a groove 125 on its inner surface adapted to receive and secure an edge of the panel 120. The beams 124 forming the vertical walls or sides of the frame that contains the panel 120, have a width that is equal to the distance between the standards 108 and 109. These beams are positioned between the standards 108 and 109 with the side edges of the beams in butting relation to the inner surfaces of the standards 108 and 109 as illustrated at 126. The members 127 are suitably secured in the standards 108 and 109 by cement or other suitable means. Thus, the partitions 120 may be adjusted at any desired height in the standards, depending upon the particular use to which they are put.

The standards S and 109 may be of any suitable vertical height depending upon the size of the partitions with which they are used. In order to adjust the position of the standards 108 and 109 at a vertical level, legs 130 may be used. These legs extend vertically parallel to and between the standards 108 and 109. The legs, preferably, are rectangular in shape at least at those portions that extend between the standards 108 and 109, with the width equal to the space between the standards 108 and 109 and a thickness no greater than the distance between the spacers 116 and 117. The upper end of the legs 130 may be supported or secured to a cross member or top element covering the upper end of the standard. This top member (not shown) is spaced to conform to the periphery of the standards and the spanning elements between them. It may `be secured by suitable means as, for example, the type of arrangement shown in c-onnection with IG. l.

I claim:

1.` A shelving construction comprising a support having a pair of opposed vertically extending spaced elongated standards having a plurality of vertically extending parallel opposed grooves formed therein,

a horizontally extending shelf positioned between said standards, and at least one spacer having opposed sides positioned in and engaged by said opposed grooves with the upper and lower edges of said spacer extending across the space between said standards and with said spacer supporting said shelf.

2.`A shelving construction as set forth in claim 1 having a plurality of said spacers spanning the space between said standards and anchored at their opposite sides in said standards.

3. A shelving as set forth in claim 2 having a plurality of said grooves formed in each of said standards and a decorative sheet having side edges, said sheet positioned over said spacer with said side edges of said sheet in said grooves.

4. A shelving as set forth in claim 3 having at least three of said grooves with said spacer positioned with its sides in a centrally located groove and said sheet positioned with its side edges in one of said outer grooves.

5. A shelving as set forth in claim 4 having four grooves with said spacers arranged in pairs with the upper edges of each pair parallel and aligned with one another and commonly suporting a shelf.

6. A shelving construction as set forth in claim 4 having four grooves with a plurality of spacers located with their sides in the same grooves one above the other to support the shelves one above the other.

7. A shelving construction as set forth in claim 6 wherein at least one of said spacers has an upper edge extending non-perpendicularly to said standards and supports, a shelf with the upper surface of said shelf non-perpendicular to said standards.

8. A shelving construction as set forth in claim 6 having a plurality of legs extending into said support between said standards with the lower ends of said legs extending downwardly from said support.

9. A shelving construction as set forth in claim 6 having a plurality of shelves extending from opposite sides of said support at different vertical levels with the ends of said shelves terminating between the said standards.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 715,967 12/1902 Briggs 2l l--l34 X 2,375,726 5/1945 Bales 211-148 X 3,142,386 7/1964 Skubic 211-148 3,174,592 3/1965 Berman 211-148 X 3,202,296 8/1965 Diack 211-148 X NILE C. BYERS, IR., Primary Examiner 

